Match Report: Colorado (M)
Dominic Riebli
The USC Men traveled to Las Vegas for the World Rugby 7s and played a friendly against the University of Colorado. The Trojans came away with a well-earned 43-19 victory.
SCupport USC Rugby: There are only 3 days left in the campaign. If you’d like to contribute, please find the link here. FWIW, I’m posting this story from Cal Rugby, which talks about the expansion of their endowments.
Men’s Colorado Match Report: The Trojans secured their first win of the season with a clinical performance against the Colorado Buffaloes. Playing early in the morning on Saturday and with high winds, game captain Alex Duran opted to play with the weather advantage in the first half. His decision paid immediate dividends as Senior Flyhalf Adam Bushell’s opening kick-off swirled around and dropped to the ground near the 22-meter line. Duran caught the bounce cleanly, drew a defender, and offloaded to Senior Center Sean Cooper for the opening try 10 seconds into the match. Bushell converted the extras and USC was off-and-running.
A few minutes later Duran took a penalty tap on near sideline and bounced over for a score of his own. Junior 8-man Rohan Martin got into the act by bulling over a hapless wing from the base of a USC scrum; 17-0 to the Trojans 10-minutes into the match. Cooper and Duran each scored another converted try to bring the tally to 31-0. Duran completed a hat trick at the 30 minute mark and then Freshman Lock Justin Lin splashed down for the first score of his career. Bushell converted the extras and staked his side to a 43-0 halftime lead.
“The boys worked very hard this past week, as they’ve done all season,” said Director of Rugby Dominic Riebli. “We scaled back on the offensive options and just tried to focus on executing the basic aspects of the offensive pattern. Everything worked to plan in the first half. However, we knew that the wind would play a large factor in the second half, just as it had in the first. Going against the gale-force, we had to play with even more discipline and intention.”
Although they conceded three tries in the second 40, the Trojans built themselves enough of a cushion to have successfully put the game away after 60 minutes. The gap allowed for less experienced players to log valuable game time and contribute to the effort.
“Although Alex Duran had a fantastic offensive day, I must give all praise to Adam (Bushell) for his play today,” said Riebli. “It was, without a doubt, his best performance of the year, if not of his career. From a tactical standpoint, he made all the correct decisions about when to kick, where to kick, when to pass, etc. He, along with Freshman Scrumhalf Andrew Daughenbaugh marshalled the troops around all day.
“This was a great day for many reasons. First, the boys got a reward for staying in the fight and battling through a difficult year. They could’ve folded up shop many times but they stuck it out, kept improving, and got a positive result. Second, the combination of the game and atmosphere made for a positive bonding experience for the team. For the first time in a long while, they looked like they were having fun. Third, the team gained some perspective on rugby outside of the PAC and D1A California conferences. Half of the teams in PAC are in the top 20…and UCLA should be there. Cal Poly are definitely top 40. Top flight rugby on the West Coast is top flight rugby in the United States. It was a bit of positive reinforcement for the ego to know that they are, at the core, good rugby players.”
USC has the next two weeks for Spring Break before returning to close out their respective seasons on March 24th.
“We go into the break with a positive vibe. Hopefully we can ride the wave a little longer and finish strong against Utah and Oxy.”
Fight On!
-Dominic Riebli
Director of Rugby
Upcoming Men’s Games:
Sat. 3/24, 1pm @ Utah
Upcoming Women’s Games:
Sat. 3/24, 1pm vs Oxy